Waukegan Loves Bradbury

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Mike

Waukegan Public Library Executive Director Richard Lee in Ray Bradbury’s basement with a box of foreign editions.

Ray Bradbury’s personal book collection has been inherited by the Waukegan Public Library, located in the town where he was born and spent much of his childhood.

As you would imagine, knowing Bradbury’s love of books, he owned a lot of them.

“Every room had a bookshelf overflowing,” said Rena Morrow, the library’s marketing, programming, and exhibits manager.

The books on those shelves included first editions, Bradbury’s work in foreign languages, and autographed copies.

The library would like to get one of Bradbury typewriters, too. Staffers hope to create a permanent exhibit in honor of the author.

There are also prospects for a trade between the library and the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University, which is interested in getting some of the books. A trade to broaden the library’s collection has the blessing of Bradbury’s daughters, says its director.

Meantime, Waukegan may add to to the author’s local honors by naming a school for Bradbury. He is already recognized with a star in the city’s Sheridan Road Walk of Fame, and by Ray Bradbury Park, dedicated in 1990.

The District 60 Board of Education fielded a formal request on Tuesday, June 11, from a group of residents that included Karen Bales, a retired Waukegan educator who was principal at Whittier from 2006 to 2010.

District spokesman Nicholas Alajakis said the request is under review by Superintendent Dr. Donaldo Batiste, who will follow district policy in considering the change.

According to that policy, the Board of Education can designate school names to honor “U.S. Presidents, statesmen and heroes of national fame, local educators, local community and civic leaders, or other individuals deemed by the Board to have made a significant contribution to education in Waukegan.”

There is ample precedent: the district has approved name-changes for three other schools over the past 20 years, memorializing several local educators.

Once the city even named a school after a living person. Waukegan native Benjamin Kubelsky, who gained fame as Jack Benny, flew in from Hollywood in 1961 to dedicate Jack Benny Junior High.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the stories.]

No, That’s Not Too Much Jay

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Mike

Jeff Baker has a terrific interview with Jay Lake in The Oregonian. Of course, it’s terrific. Jay makes it that way:

Online and in person, Lake is available, honest and articulate. His sometimes funny, always-frank reports on his medical condition attract tens of thousands of followers to his blogs and Facebook page. He’s been writing publicly about his cancer since the second day and hasn’t backed off as the prognosis has gotten grimmer.

The interview publicized JayFest, held June 8 at Powell’s bookstore in Portland.

There are details of the “Acts of Whimsy” fundraiser that brought in $50,000 for Lake’s medical expenses. And about what he’ll do with the copy of his genome that was made when doctors were hoping to find genes implicated in the cancer that might be affected by other drugs than the ones he was already taking.

“I’m open-sourcing my genome so that scientists and doctors as well as hobbyists and students can have access to a full human genome, which is very difficult to find right now,” he says. “I haven’t been able to help myself very much so maybe I can help some other people.”

Somebody could study that and come up with something that will save the world.

“That’s exactly right. That’s why I want to give it away, so that somebody else can help save the world. If that becomes true then I have triumphed over my disease. Even if I’m not here to know it. My daughter will know. You will know. Everybody will know.”

There’s been a JayCon, a JayFest and there will be a JayWake — a memorial service and roast to be held while he’s still around to enjoy it, and which he intends to enter being carried in a coffin and pop out at the right moment. The interviewer teases, “Isn’t that a lot of Jay?” But he gets a great answer, because Jay makes it that way:

“Most writers are a neurotic mess, including me if you catch me on the right day, but at the core of it you really have to believe in what you’re thinking and doing to think anyone else (cares). You’re a little bit like the 3-year-old who walks onstage during the church play and says ‘look at me!’ … There’s a level at which I’m perfectly happy to hear my name. It gives me something to be happy about at this time when most things that make me happy are being stripped away, piece by piece, never to return.”

Stu Shiffman Update 6/3

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Mike

Nearly a year has passed since fanartist Stu Shiffman suffered his stroke and his accelerating improvement is encouraging. Tom Whitmore wrote in a new post for Stu’s Caring Bridge page:

Stu’s been on the speaking valve pretty much every day, which means he’s getting more chances to talk. He’s been talking to his family on the phone, including his sister; and people are having no trouble understanding him. He sounds a lot like himself at this point — a bit quacky, perhaps, but the phrasing and pauses are classic Shiffman. He’s eating pureed foods regularly, and getting lots of visits from therapists. They’re always glad to work with him because he’s doing so well. For now, there’s no big news, but lots of positive small news.

New Grandchild

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Mike

It was just in the last issue of his fanzine Askance that John Purcell wrote, “Personally, I’m in no hurry to become a grandfather, but I know it will happen someday.”

Well, today was that day!

John and Valerie Purcell’s daughter Josie gave birth to Brian Charles James Blevins at 5:21 p.m. on May 26, making them grandparents for the first time. Congratulations.

Should You Read This?

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Mike

Click through and enjoy “Should You See It? A Curious Consumer’s Decision-Making Guide to Star Trek Into Darkness” by Mark Lisanti for Grantland. As good as this introduction is, the rest of his article is even funnier –

And so we fast-forward to stardate 05.16.2013 (note: not a valid stardate), four summers hence, and Abrams has returned to deliver the inevitable sequel, in fulfillment of the contractual prophecy etched into the wall of a Spock-sheltering ice cave by an advanced race of business-affairs aliens. Can Abrams once again pull off the massively profitable trick of satisfying both the core and summer audiences before tearing off his loosely affixed latex Vulcan ears, slipping into a Jedi robe, and taking stewardship of his childhood obsession? And, most important of all, should you support this latest Trek adventure with your ticket purchase? We’re here to answer some questions and help you make the best-informed decision possible.

While you’re deciding whether to see the movie another factor unmentioned in the article but reported by John King Tarpinian is that the film includes a reference to a starship named Bradbury. (And by attaching that factoid here I can keep up File 770’s tradition of being “all Bradbury all the time.”)

Evelyn Leeper’s Too-Hip Blog

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Mike

When fanwriter Evelyn Leeper broke her hip on March 20, her husband Mark decided the best way for them to keep all their friends updated was to start a blog.

Mark wrote the first post from the emergency room of Bayshore Hospital.

Evelyn fell off the bottom step of the attic steps in our garage, hit her head, and it looks like she broke her hip. Right now I am waiting for her to return from the x-rays.

Evelyn began adding to the blog while she was still in the hospital. Now she’s back home but the recovery process has been painful, as she describes in her May 14 entry:

Leg pains (including knee pains and hip pains) come and go. I suspect the knee pains may be if I sit on a low couch, or drive some distance, with my leg bent for long periods of time. There is less pain from twisting around, though, so it seems things are improving. I can actually sleep on my side, somewhat curled up (which had been my favorite position for sleeping before all this).

Here’s wishing Evelyn a rapid and complete recovery with freedom from pain.

Stu Shiffman Update 5/15

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Mike

Stu Shiffman is continuing his gradual recovery from a 2012 stroke. Tom Whitmore reported the latest progress on Stu’s Caring Bridge page:

Stu had his big swallow test today, with X-ray movies, and passed with no problems. This means that he’ll actually be eating food (pureed food at first) three days a week, for lunch, starting very soon. This is an important milestone in his recovery, and we’re all really pleased.

Jay Lake Update

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mike

Jay Lake has posted some very discouraging news about his fight with cancer. After relating the medical details he concludes –

This is my terminal diagnosis. We will continue to push as much as possible for further treatment and life extension, but I’m on the last plane out. Just remains to be seen how long the flight is.

Like so many other fans I’m hoping the new course of treatment will be effective and beneficial for as long as possible.

Stu Shiffman Update 4/22

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Mike

Ten months after suffering a stroke Stu Shiffman is regaining his speaking ability reports Tom Whitmore on Stu’s Caringbridge page –

Stu is now doing almost all his communication by speech (rather than spelling things out). He’s still a little croaky, but only a little difficult to understand. He’s also continuing to work out a couple of times a week at the gym upstairs. He still can’t stand or walk, but they’re working on keeping his muscles in shape.

This is very fine news!

Fox News on Kramer’s Jail Stay

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Mike

Atlanta’s Fox News station devoted five minutes of its April 16 broadcast to Ed Kramer’s conduct since being returned to jail in Georgia. Kramer has filed a new lawsuit against his Gwinnett County jailers for not accommodating his many disabilities.

The Fox anchor’s sneer and dismissive hand-wave as she utters the words “science fiction” in the introduction are precious, but I find the video report itself disturbing.

The station website’s description conveys its tone –

A Georgia man who successfully delayed his child molestation trial for more than a decade is now running up big medical bills in jail and filing hundreds of sometimes bizarre complaints.

Ed Kramer co-founded DragonCon, the popular science fiction convention held each year in Atlanta.

Gwinnett County’s sheriff tells FOX 5 I-Team reporter Randy Travis that some of Kramer’s complaints are out of this world.

Kramer has filed 214 requests and grievances since arriving back in Gwinnett County. Because Kramer sued them before, blaming a deputy’s assault for his neck injury, sheriffs video recorded the entire journey from Connecticut to Georgia.

Four of the five illustrations provided of Kramer’s “hundreds of bizarre complaints” are not “bizarre” in any real-world sense, merely attempts to reconcile jail life with strict Jewish dietary and hygiene rules or to celebrate the Sabbath. (The report shows Kramer telling someone, “Right after sunset I’ll be glad to sign anything you need me to.”) The fifth example is a menu request, not at all extraordinary, despite the Sheriff’s relish in rejecting it.

The requests are not bizarre. Whether Kramer’s beliefs are sincere is a separate question. A deputy said religious observances were not part of his incarceration 13 years ago. The Sheriff of Gwinnett County was openly skeptical that Kramer has the same requirements when he is not in jail. In contrast, a sympathetic account of Kramer’s beliefs – “Truth, Justice and Ed Kramer” – was published in American Jewish Life Magazine in 2004.

Kramer wore a neck brace and rode as a patient in an air ambulance when he was extradited from Connecticut and Gwinnett County in January. The county says it has paid $23,000 for Kramer’s medical bills since his return.

Kramer continues to argue that his medical condition makes him unable to stand trial. Or as the Fox reporter dramatizes, “To sit through this trial would endanger his life.”

[Thanks to Nancy Collins for the story.]

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